Just Thinking About Working Out Makes You Stronger, Apparently
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Do you spend a lot of time fretting about all the exercise that you’re not doing? Well, it turns out that you’re not totally wasting your time.
According to one particularly awesome scientist, your thoughts could actually be making you stronger.
Cognitive psychology professor Jim Davis, of Carleton University in Canada, argues that imagining a work out can actually benefit our bodies.
Writing in Nautilus, the prof explains that we all have something called proprioception, which allows us to know where all our body parts are and be aware of when they are moving.
According to Prof Davis, using this sense to imagine performing physical actions can affect your actual physical performance.
[Photo: Getty]
He writes: “When you imagine exercising, your breath and heart rate actually increase. Mental practice is one of the few effective performance enhancing activities.”
The scientist draws on a number of studies, including one that found that imagining exercising your little finger can increase its muscle strength by 22%. Prof Davis also references research that found that people’s ability to pot a golf ball was increased by simply imagining placing the ball in the hole.
All in all, sitting watching the Olympics while working your way through a pack of Oreos ain’t so bad. As long as you’re imagining yourself prancing about in a leotard you’re really just mentally preparing, so give yourself a break.
